James Mattis’s Final Protest Against the President

[☦Marius☦]

If you think Iran, Putin, ISIS, and Trump are good guys, and America, the Kurds, and Israel are bad guys.



The Turkish dictator hates the Kurds.



The offensive ordered by Obama had them reeling. Obama's plan, worked out with our Iraqi and Kurdish allies, was for them to do the ground operations, and for us to do intelligence and air support. It worked extremely well. For a while, Trump carried on with the plan. ISIS was down to about 20,000 fighters when Trump called for a retreat, according to the CIA.

A U.S. retreat will give them time to regroup and fight again.



You actually believed Trump? Seriously?

The Foreign Relations chairman said the U.S. was weeks away from launching a ‘major clearing operation’ in the Euphrates River Valley when Trump decided to withdraw from Syria.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee revealed on Friday that the U.S. military was planning a “major clearing operation” targeting ISIS before President Donald Trump decided abruptly this week to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria.

“One thing that hasn’t been reported is, we were six weeks away from a major clearing operation that has been planned for a long time. I got briefed on this a year ago—with ISIS in the Euphrates River Valley,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said Friday on Capitol Hill, referring to the area where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to be hiding.

Trump’s decision, which at least partly led to the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, has rattled congressional Republicans, who have questioned the wisdom of withdrawing from Syria before ISIS is fully eradicated. In defending his decision, Trump claimed that the extremist caliphate has been defeated, but Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a top Trump ally, called that claim “fake news,” and said America’s adversaries will benefit from Trump’s order.
Trump’s Abrupt Syria Withdrawal Thwarted ‘Major’ Operation Targeting ISIS, Sen. Bob Corker Says


U.S. Officials Try to Slow Trump’s ‘Everybody Out’ of Syria Order
President Donald Trump may have declared the so-called Islamic State “defeated,” sparking talk of a U.S. withdrawal from the former ISIS stronghold of northeastern Syria. But administration officials, several of whom were taken by surprise, indicated an effort was underway to stop or slow a pullout.

“U.S. forces will continue the fight against ISIS,” a White House official who requested anonymity told The Daily Beast.

The future scope of that fight is less clear than ever. Some within the administration said Trump had indeed reached a decision to leave Syria. “The president said ‘Everybody out,’” a senior administration official told The Daily Beast.

Confusion about the U.S. goals in Syria and the sustainability of a strategy to achieve them has been a consistent feature of 2018, a year in which the president and various senior officials have expanded and contracted the goals at least four times.
Trump’s Abrupt Syria Withdrawal Thwarted ‘Major’ Operation Targeting ISIS, Sen. Bob Corker Says

Get used to it; Trump lies to you, because he figures you're not smart enough to find out for yourself.

Russia was losing ground against ISIS in Syria, when the Iraqis and Kurds, with US air support, were driving them out of one city after another in Iraq. You were really lied to about that. And it wasn't just battlefield. US forces frequently did raids into ISIS area, taking out enemy facilities and killing ISIS leaders.

ISIS expands hold in Syria with control of Palmyra ruins
May 21, 2015.

Fears mounted over the fate of one of the Mideast's most prominent archaeological sites after Islamic State militants overran the historic Syrian town of Palmyra, seizing control Thursday of its temples, tombs and colonnades within hours.

The takeover also expanded the extremists' hold, making them the single group controlling the most territory in Syria.

"The Syrian regime appears to be in terminal decline, and the Islamic State group in its timing is capitalizing on recent losses by government forces in the north and south," said Amr Al-Azm, an antiquities expert and professor at Shawnee State University in Ohio.

The militants overran the famed archaeological site early Thursday, just hours after seizing the nearby town in central Syria, activists and officials said.

They also captured Palmyra's airport and the notorious Tadmur prison, delivering a startling new defeat for President Bashar Assad, whose forces quickly retreated. Hundreds of Palmyra residents fled the town of 65,000, and many more were trying to escape, said Talal Barazi, the governor of central Homs province, which includes Palmyra.
'Its destiny is dark and dim:' Fears mount over ISIS hold on Palmyra's famed ruins | CBC News

The Russians and Syrians were unable to protect a major Syrian city at the same time that the U.S. and it's allies were taking one city after another from ISIS in Iraq. C'mon

In his campaign against ISIS, President Obama has relied on airstrikes and the training of local fighters as a way to avoid keeping U.S. troops outside the line of fire. But he also needs military teams that can hit the ground in an emergency.

In that gray area stands Delta Force.

Delta Force is the Army's top covert combat unit, with a long history of hunting terrorists and rescuing hostages in war zones around the world. When Kurdish fighters in Iraq heard that ISIS was preparing to execute dozens of captives this week, America sent Delta Force commandos to help.

The raid was a success, resulting in the rescue of 70 hostages. But Delta Force also lost one of its own, 39-year old Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, a married father of four.
Behind Delta Force, the Covert Unit That Saved ISIS Captives in Iraq

Our guys are a lot better at this than you think they are.

The US says its special forces have killed a senior Islamic State (IS) member and captured his wife in a rare ground raid in eastern Syria.

Abu Sayyaf helped direct oil, gas and financial operations for IS, as well as holding a military role, said a US Department of Defense statement.

It said forces tried to capture him, but he was killed after engaging them.

It is the first time the US is known to have carried out a ground operation to attack IS within Syria.

The operation was authorised by President Barack Obama and was carried out by forces based in Iraq.

US officials said Abu Sayyaf was Tunisian, with one official telling CNN he was the chief financial officer "of all of [IS]" and that the US had seized "reams of data on how ISIS operates, communicates and earns its money".
US special forces in Syria raid



Destroying their troops, taking away their territory, and killing their leaders helped them? How so?



She's really hacked now. Why do you people always get abusive when evidence is presented?

First off ISIS was originally funded by America

Secondly if you actually think Russia was losing ground to ISIS then you have been taking in some serious propaganda. Russia was wiping the floor with ISIS and Obama finally decided to do some costal air strikes. Russia had full military operations in Syria with armor, footsoldiers and their airforce.

Thirdly why would I care about Kurds more than a Syrian leader who gives rights to Christians? Kurds are zoroastrian rebels, literally no difference to me then if they were Muslims.

Israel is the same as well, which btw Putin and Israel are allies so once again I say you are reading too much Western propaganda.


I'm not even pro Trump.

 

[The Barbarian]

First off ISIS was originally funded by America

Bush funded ISIS? Show us that. It formed in response to the American occupation of Iraq. Learn more about it here:
Here's how ISIS was really founded - CNN

Secondly if you actually think Russia was losing ground to ISIS then you have been taking in some serious propaganda.

They lost a major city in Syria to ISIS. You need to stop reading propaganda and start learning some history of this organization. Russians seriously underestimated them, and so they were gaining ground in Syria.

The Iraqis and Kurds didn't want or need U.S. ground forces. They wanted air support. The alliance so formed, ousted ISIS from every major city they occupied in Iraq.

Thirdly why would I care about Kurds more than a Syrian leader who gives rights to Christians?

Because Kurds don't persecute Christians. Christian militias are fighting alongside Kurdish Peshmerga.

The Syriac Military Council, a Syriac-Assyrian Christian militia allied with the Kurdish YPG, is the largest Christian militia in the Syrian civil war. By comparison with some of the other armed groups in Syria, Christian militias are usually not large and dependent on the Kurdish or Syrian government aid.[1] Maronite Christians in Lebanon have also formed militias to fight against ISIS incursions from Syria, over the border, and the Assyrians in Iraq have formed well armed militias in the north to protect Assyrian communities, towns and villages in the Assyrian homeland and Nineveh plains.[2]
Christian militias in Syria - Wikipedia

Kurds are zoroastrian rebels, literally no difference to me then if they were Muslims.

Most Kurds are Muslims. You don't have any idea at all what you're talking about, do you? In Turkey, a significant minority are Alevis, a form of Shia Islam.

Today, the majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim, belonging to the Shafi school. The Kurdish following of the Shafi legal code has caused some tension when pushed up against Sunni Turks and Sunni Arabs who subscribe to the Hanafi legal code.
Kurds - Wikipedia

 

[The Barbarian]

Most of what you said does not merit a response as you clearly do not understand.

It was probably a bad idea for you to tell us about something you didn't fully understand. Maybe next time, be sure you know about it.

The United States is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy.

As you just learned, it's a representative democracy.

Also you quote the preamble to the Constitution,

Yep. It makes it clear who establishes the law of the land. Very clear. "We the people of the United States of America." As you just learned, that is what a democracy is. Here, I'll show you again:

Definition of democracy

1a : government by the people especially : rule of the majority

b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

2 : a political unit that has a democratic government
Definition of DEMOCRACY

Next time be sure you have a clear understanding so you don't look foolish.

 

[The Barbarian]

With a population of just over 50,000, Palmyra is hardly a major city

Go look at a map and learn. Largest city in the area. And the Russians lost it to ISIS at the same time The U.S. coalition was defeating ISIS in Iraq. Would you like me to show you that? And please remember, Kurds are Muslims.

That raises another issue - Russia was the only country that was actually authorized to intervene.

In Syria. Which is why ISIS retains more fighters in Syria than they do in Iraq. We weren't invited. But we put in an appearance from time to time, anyway, taking out ISIS leaders in quick special forces raids or drone strikes. Would you like to learn about those?

I was referring to the arms that the US supplied to IS - oh, I'm sorry "Syrian rebels".

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have garnered criticism for their support of groups fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the wake of a 2011 rebel and jihadi uprising. As the opposition made gains in the early years of the war, ISIS arose out of a post-U.S. invasion Sunni Muslim insurgency in neighboring Iraq and came to control up to half of both countries at its height in 2014. That same year, the U.S. formed a coalition to battle ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

ISIS’s rapid takeover, however, was assisted by U.S. weapons looted from government forces in Iraq and from Syrian fighters that either were defeated or absorbed by the militant group.
Europe wants to limit arms sale to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia because weapons went to ISIS

Not what they told you, um? Guess why.

I'm not being abusive.

No need to "worry your pretty little head about it." Just learn to collect some facts and put together a cogent argument from those facts, and it won't embarrass you again. And remember; most kurds are Sunni Muslims.

Bottom line? Trump's retreat from the Middle East has winners:
Putin, ISIS, Syria, Iran, Turkey

And losers:
Israel, the Kurds, Iraq, America.

 

[☦Marius☦]

Bush funded ISIS? Show us that. It formed in response to the American occupation of Iraq. Learn more about it here:
Here's how ISIS was really founded - CNN



They lost a major city in Syria to ISIS. You need to stop reading propaganda and start learning some history of this organization. Russians seriously underestimated them, and so they were gaining ground in Syria.

The Iraqis and Kurds didn't want or need U.S. ground forces. They wanted air support. The alliance so formed, ousted ISIS from every major city they occupied in Iraq.



Because Kurds don't persecute Christians. Christian militias are fighting alongside Kurdish Peshmerga.

The Syriac Military Council, a Syriac-Assyrian Christian militia allied with the Kurdish YPG, is the largest Christian militia in the Syrian civil war. By comparison with some of the other armed groups in Syria, Christian militias are usually not large and dependent on the Kurdish or Syrian government aid.[1] Maronite Christians in Lebanon have also formed militias to fight against ISIS incursions from Syria, over the border, and the Assyrians in Iraq have formed well armed militias in the north to protect Assyrian communities, towns and villages in the Assyrian homeland and Nineveh plains.[2]
Christian militias in Syria - Wikipedia



Most Kurds are Muslims. You don't have any idea at all what you're talking about, do you? In Turkey, a significant minority are Alevis, a form of Shia Islam.

Today, the majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim, belonging to the Shafi school. The Kurdish following of the Shafi legal code has caused some tension when pushed up against Sunni Turks and Sunni Arabs who subscribe to the Hanafi legal code.
Kurds - Wikipedia

"Stop reading propaganda"

*Posts CNN and Wikipedia as sources*

 

[☦Marius☦]

Go look at a map and learn. Largest city in the area. And the Russians lost it to ISIS at the same time The U.S. coalition was defeating ISIS in Iraq. Would you like me to show you that? And please remember, Kurds are Muslims.



In Syria. Which is why ISIS retains more fighters in Syria than they do in Iraq. We weren't invited. But we put in an appearance from time to time, anyway, taking out ISIS leaders in quick special forces raids or drone strikes. Would you like to learn about those?



The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have garnered criticism for their support of groups fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the wake of a 2011 rebel and jihadi uprising. As the opposition made gains in the early years of the war, ISIS arose out of a post-U.S. invasion Sunni Muslim insurgency in neighboring Iraq and came to control up to half of both countries at its height in 2014. That same year, the U.S. formed a coalition to battle ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

ISIS’s rapid takeover, however, was assisted by U.S. weapons looted from government forces in Iraq and from Syrian fighters that either were defeated or absorbed by the militant group.
Europe wants to limit arms sale to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia because weapons went to ISIS

Not what they told you, um? Guess why.



No need to "worry your pretty little head about it." Just learn to collect some facts and put together a cogent argument from those facts, and it won't embarrass you again. And remember; most kurds are Sunni Muslims.

Bottom line? Trump's retreat from the Middle East has winners:
Putin, ISIS, Syria, Iran, Turkey

And losers:
Israel, the Kurds, Iraq, America.

It's true that the original Kurdish workers party was majority Muslim but as Kurdish nationalism has been growing the identity many are choosing to go back to is their ancestral zoroastrianism. It's not an exaggeration.

Either way they aren't Christian. Putin has spend billions of rubles restoring Orthodox Churches across the world. Christianity has had a rebirth in Russia during his time in office. Assad respects this and gives minority rights to Christians as well, and most Syrian Christians I've heard speak of him praise him.

So why should I support my own secular American government whose entire basis is on secular rationalism, and Israel who's violent land stealing from Palestinians many of whom are Christians? Not to mention the ever increasing radical Orthodox Jewish control of the state and Jewish nationalism. They have rallies where they chant "kill all Arabs" and the Israeli government Pat's them on the back. Why would I support that?

Also while Turkey and ISIS may align, Russia and Syria are on an opposing faction against them. Putin would never Ally himself with Turks, every Orthodox Christian in Russia would be against him. Assad is fairly secular and not a Sunni If I'm not mistaken. ISIS is against what he stands for as a leader.

 

[Reconciliation and Truth]

Except for the fact he was voted in by the people...but I guess that doesn't matter?

He lost the popular vote. Yes, the popular vote does not matter.

The voters wanted Clinton.

 

[The Barbarian]

"Stop reading propaganda"

*Posts CNN and Wikipedia as sources*

The final defense of a failing argument:
"They're all lying! All of them are lying!"

 

[The Barbarian]

It's true that the original Kurdish workers party was majority Muslim but as Kurdish nationalism has been growing the identity many are choosing to go back to is their ancestral zoroastrianism. It's not an exaggeration.

It's just an error. The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims. You have no idea what you're talking about, do you?

Either way they aren't Christian.

They just protect Christians. They have such a reputation for tolerance that Christian miliitias are fighting alongside them. Would it hurt you to take some time to learn about the current situation in the area? It would save you a lot of embarrassment.

Putin has spend billions of rubles restoring Orthodox Churches across the world.

So did Stalin, in Russia. For the same reasons.

Christianity has had a rebirth in Russia during his time in office. Assad respects this and gives minority rights to Christians as well, and most Syrian Christians I've heard speak of him praise him.

Syriac Christians, as you have learned, are fighting him in alliance with the Kurds.

So why should I support my own secular American government whose entire basis is on secular rationalism,

I can only point out that rationalism would have been a huge benefit to you in this discussion.

Also while Turkey and ISIS may align

Turks detest ISIS.
Turkey claims to have been the first country which designated ISIL as a terrorist organization.[28][29] ISIL is suspected of involvement in or responsibility for the terrorist attacks on Turkish soil in May 2013 in Reyhanlı and March 2014 on Turkish police, the 5 June 2015 Diyarbakır rally bombing and most notably the 20 July 2015 Suruç bombing killing 33 young Kurdish activists which ignited the Third Phase of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict ongoing since 1978 and reignited fighting amongst Turkish security forces and the PKK.

The Turkish government until July 2015 had attacked ISIL once militarily, in January 2014. In September 2014, Turkey joined a US-led coalition 'to fight ISIL'.
Turkey–ISIL conflict - Wikipedia

As I said, things are more complicated than you imagine.

 

[☦Marius☦]

It's just an error. The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims. You have no idea what you're talking about, do you?



They just protect Christians. They have such a reputation for tolerance that Christian miliitias are fighting alongside them. Would it hurt you to take some time to learn about the current situation in the area? It would save you a lot of embarrassment.



So did Stalin, in Russia. For the same reasons.



Syriac Christians, as you have learned, are fighting him in alliance with the Kurds.



I can only point out that rationalism would have been a huge benefit to you in this discussion.



Turks detest ISIS.
Turkey claims to have been the first country which designated ISIL as a terrorist organization.[28][29] ISIL is suspected of involvement in or responsibility for the terrorist attacks on Turkish soil in May 2013 in Reyhanlı and March 2014 on Turkish police, the 5 June 2015 Diyarbakır rally bombing and most notably the 20 July 2015 Suruç bombing killing 33 young Kurdish activists which ignited the Third Phase of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict ongoing since 1978 and reignited fighting amongst Turkish security forces and the PKK.

The Turkish government until July 2015 had attacked ISIL once militarily, in January 2014. In September 2014, Turkey joined a US-led coalition 'to fight ISIL'.
Turkey–ISIL conflict - Wikipedia

As I said, things are more complicated than you imagine.

“Zoroaster was a Kurd!”: Neo-Zoroastrianism among the Iraqi Kurds in: Iran and the Caucasus Volume 22 Issue 1 Year 2018

THE CURIOUS REBIRTH OF ZOROASTRIANISM IN IRAQI KURDISTAN


Nothing is cut and dry:
Turkey’s complicated relationship with ISIS

Turkey's Double ISIS Standard

And really? Stalin and Putin support the church for the same reason? Stalin allowed orthdoxy while the Nazis were invading because Hitler was allowing Christians to worship again and so they were refusing to aid the Soviet war effort or even joining the opposition. He banned it as soon as the war was over. Putin on the other hand is an Orthodox Christian, regularly attends services across the world, visits monasteries, and funds church building. Comparing him with the man who genocided more a few million Orthodox Christians is frankly offensive.

 

[☦Marius☦]

Kurdish Authorities in Syria Close Schools Run by Assyrian Christians

Aid to the Church in Need | SYRIA: ‘Plan to oust Christians from the region’, says archbishop

Assyrian Christians Face Persecution by Kurdish Nationalists | National Review

 

[The Barbarian]

Masrour Barzani: Kurdistan continues to protect Christians
Masrour Barzani: Kurdistan continues to protect Christians

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – Promoting religious freedom and protecting persecuted Christians and other religious minorities is a vital element in the Trump administration’s national security agenda.


On Wednesday, Vice-President Mike Pence addressed the annual conference of the association In Defense of Christians (IDC), which focuses on the plight of threatened Christian communities in the Middle East.


“In Iraq, we see monasteries demolished, priests and monks beheaded, the two-millennia-old Christian tradition in Mosul clinging for survival,” Pence told the IDC.


“In Iraq, the followers of Christ have fallen by 80 percent in the past decade and a half,” the Vice-President warned. “Across the wider Middle East, we can now see a future in many areas without the Christian faith.”


The next day, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert praised the Kurds in strong terms for their role in protecting Christians and other minorities in Iraq.


“Without the Kurds, many of those families would eventually not be able to come home,” she said, responding to a question from Kurdistan 24.


“The Kurds were a huge part” of the fight against the Islamic State (IS), alongside Coalition and US forces, she said, helping “to protect those persecuted communities.”


“We will never forget what the Kurds have done,” she concluded.
US hails Kurdish role in protecting Christians, but fails to match words with deeds

Bahro points out Christians in Iraqi Kurdistan are mostly respected by their Kurdish neighbors, though he acknowledges instances of hostility. Living all his life in the Kurdish regions, he says he has never encountered opposition from Kurdish authorities.

“On the contrary,” he says, “everything we have asked for as a church or institution has been accepted by the Kurdish government.”

Jazrawi also speaks amicably of the Kurds, who pay visits to the churches on Easter and Christmas, he says. “They will give us their greeting.” (Exchanging holiday greetings as social custom is refused by some conservative Muslim sects as validating false belief.)

But Kurdish cordiality won’t spare the referendum from causing disruption and resistance.

The vote, while not an official declaration of independence, could start a multi-year process toward an independent country. If that happens, the highway to sovereignty will face roadblocks. Will the Kurds pave their own way? Will Baghdad or Ankara pick a fight? Will Kurdish allies—including the United States—stick around?

Already this month, the Iraqi parliament and supreme court have rejected the referendum. Turkey has promised to oppose Kurdish statehood, vowing retribution if the vote passes. And the US may cut ties with the Kurdish government, including the peshmerga—Iraqi Kurdistan’s military wing and America’s close partner in combatting ISIS—if the vote happens. So far, only Israel has publicly supported the Kurdish independence effort.

After 15 years of violence, Iraqi Christians expect more of the same: more war.

Their hope is in God, says Pickett; but also in the US, which has built up significant military bases in northern Iraq. “Their hope is the American presence will be a guarantee of peace in Kurdistan.”
Iraqi Christians At Odds with World on Kurdish Referendum

 

[The Barbarian]

Nothing is cut and dry.

Hay is. And that fact that most Kurds are Muslims, is. You just had no idea what you were talking about.

Stalin and Putin support the church for the same reason?

Yep. Political support. Stalin reversed the persecution of the church in Russia, in order to gain political support. He removed church leaders who were not compliant, and replaced them with more agreeable leaders.

Putin is likewise using the religion as a form of nationalism, against ethnic minorities and nearby nations.

How Putin is using the Orthodox Church to build his power
How Putin is using the Orthodox Church to build his power

Putin is the most recent of an ancient Russian cultural movement, formed in reaction against the introduction of western ideas. There has always been a conflict between those who wanted to introduce western ideas, and those who wanted to keep Russian traditions free of western influence. Peter the Great sought to bring Russian into western civilization, provoking a reaction from "slavophiles" that continues to this day. Putin is a devout slavophile. Like Ivan the Terrible, he sees the Church as a pillar holding up his regime. He sees believers as useful.

Stalin allowed orthdoxy while the Nazis were invading because Hitler was allowing Christians to worship again and so they were refusing to aid the Soviet war effort or even joining the opposition. He banned it as soon as the war was over.

No, he didn't. The state church became useful tool in his rule:
According to Mitrokhin Archive and other sources, the Moscow Patriarchate has been established on the order from Joseph Stalin in 1943 as a front organization of NKVD and later the KGB [7] All key positions in the Church including bishops have been approved by the Ideological Department of Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and by the KGB. The priests were used as agents of influence in the World Council of Churches and front organizations, such as World Peace Council, Christian Peace Conference, and the Rodina ("Motherland") Society founded by the KGB in 1975.

The future Russian Patriarch Alexius II said that Rodina has been created to "maintain spiritual ties with our compatriots" as one of its leading organizers. According to the archive and other sources, Alexius has been working for the KGB as agent DROZDOV and received an honorary citation from the agency for a variety of services.[8] Priests have also recruited intelligence agents abroad and spied on Russian emigrant communities. This information by Mitrokhin has been corroborated by other sources.[9][10]

In the early 1990s and later on, Kirill was accused of having links to the KGB during much of the Soviet period, as were many members of the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy, and of pursuing the state’s interests before those of the Church.[11][12][13][14][15][16] His alleged KGB agent’s codename was "Mikhailov".[17]

Putin on the other hand is an Orthodox Christian,

If he had been a Christian, he never would have been a KGB agent.

Like Stalin, to whose government he swore loyalty, he sees the Russian church as a useful tool in his slavophile agenda.

 

[TurkishChristians]

Iraqi Christian HRC on Twitter (link)

 

[☦Marius☦]

Hay is. And that fact that most Kurds are Muslims, is. You just had no idea what you were talking about.


Yep. Political support. Stalin reversed the persecution of the church in Russia, in order to gain political support. He removed church leaders who were not compliant, and replaced them with more agreeable leaders.

Putin is likewise using the religion as a form of nationalism, against ethnic minorities and nearby nations.

How Putin is using the Orthodox Church to build his power
How Putin is using the Orthodox Church to build his power

Putin is the most recent of an ancient Russian cultural movement, formed in reaction against the introduction of western ideas. There has always been a conflict between those who wanted to introduce western ideas, and those who wanted to keep Russian traditions free of western influence. Peter the Great sought to bring Russian into western civilization, provoking a reaction from "slavophiles" that continues to this day. Putin is a devout slavophile. Like Ivan the Terrible, he sees the Church as a pillar holding up his regime. He sees believers as useful.



No, he didn't. The state church became useful tool in his rule:
According to Mitrokhin Archive and other sources, the Moscow Patriarchate has been established on the order from Joseph Stalin in 1943 as a front organization of NKVD and later the KGB [7] All key positions in the Church including bishops have been approved by the Ideological Department of Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and by the KGB. The priests were used as agents of influence in the World Council of Churches and front organizations, such as World Peace Council, Christian Peace Conference, and the Rodina ("Motherland") Society founded by the KGB in 1975.

The future Russian Patriarch Alexius II said that Rodina has been created to "maintain spiritual ties with our compatriots" as one of its leading organizers. According to the archive and other sources, Alexius has been working for the KGB as agent DROZDOV and received an honorary citation from the agency for a variety of services.[8] Priests have also recruited intelligence agents abroad and spied on Russian emigrant communities. This information by Mitrokhin has been corroborated by other sources.[9][10]

In the early 1990s and later on, Kirill was accused of having links to the KGB during much of the Soviet period, as were many members of the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy, and of pursuing the state’s interests before those of the Church.[11][12][13][14][15][16] His alleged KGB agent’s codename was "Mikhailov".[17]



If he had been a Christian, he never would have been a KGB agent.

Like Stalin, to whose government he swore loyalty, he sees the Russian church as a useful tool in his slavophile agenda.

Lol your debating and ex Russian Orthodox monk on Russian Orthodoxy as a Westerner. Yes please tell me more about my own church.

Stalin didn't restore the church, he made it a government institution. "Priests" were government agents and would report anyone with anti communist sympathies.

The Russian Orthodox Church outide of Russia (the diaspora) refused to reunite with the Moscow patriarchate until it was proven to be free of that previous corruption, which it has now been. By the time Putin was in the KGB it was no different than the American FBI. Would you really say no Christian can be in the FBI? Furthermore he was a desk clerk.

 

[TurkishChristians]

 

[TurkishChristians]

Iraqi Christians twitter profile: Iraqi Christian HRC (@iraqschristians) | Twitter

 

[TurkishChristians]

Iraqi Christians twitter profile: Iraqi Christian HRC (@iraqschristians) | Twitter

 

[RDKirk]

Interesting that Christianforums has a high enough profile to attract international spamming and trolling.

 

[TurkishChristians]

Interesting that Christianforums has a high enough profile to attract international spamming and trolling.

Argumentum Ad Hominem